Digimon: APEX
by cenkantra
Summary: 254 characters is not enough.
1. Chapter 1

DIGIMON APEX

Wogan May - Digimon and related concepts © Toei Animations

Chapter 1: Breach

* * *

"Squad J-2, status report."

"Situation normal, sir," Amy said, checking her watch. "Patrol on schedule."

"Copy that."

Amy sighed and fidgeted with her hair. Tonight, like most nights, was boring. Insanely boring. She found herself almost wishing for a catastrophe of some sort - anything to get her out of this SUV. Instead, she was slowly circling the greater Hokkaido metropolitan area, watching for rip readings.

Jim, her squad partner, was asleep in the passenger seat, his hand resting on the digivice in his belt. She toyed with the idea of startling him awake, but dismissed it just as quickly - they were professionals, after all.

She reached for the radio, paging the base.

"_Regional Command, go ahead._"

"Damnit, Alex, is this really necessary?"

* * *

Alex couldn't help but grin. Ever since his transfer to this division, he had always said that the security measures were not only too stringent, but far too taxing on the ground staff. For the most part, his comments had been ignored by the higher-ups, and he wouldn't be surprised if other regional commanders felt the same way.

"Come, now, Amy, you know the rules. IHDRC regulations clearly state..."

"_Yeah, yeah, I know about the regulations._"

"How's James?"

"_Asleep_," she replied, sounding mildly irritated.

"Well, your shift is almost up. Make one last run through the southern suburbs, then return to base."

"_Yes, sir_."

Alex looked up at the situation monitors. Nothing had changed - the APEX repulsion grid was functioning, and there had been only four rips tonight - all with zero transfer. Tonight had been quieter than most, and something about that bothered him.

The door to the control room opened, and a uniformed operator stepped through. She looked as tired as everyone else in the complex, but the daytime shift people would only arrive in three hours. Recent IHDRC funding cuts had made it that much harder to maintain a presence, and had been a bigger strain on everybody.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, and one of the situation monitors turned red - a rip was forming.

"That's odd," Alex said. "Jennifer, that region was stable?"

"It was, sir."

"Ok, we have a possible breach. Bring APEX up to speed."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"_Squad J-2, priority alert, we've picked up a potential breach. Sending location data now._"

Amy mouthed a 'Yes!' and air punched before shaking Jim awake.

"Yes, I'm ... what, wh.. Amy?"

"Potential breach, Jim."

Jim suddenly became alert, and his hands flew to the controls.

"Ok, getting location data - relative grid reference D17."

"J-2 to control, rerouting to intercept."

* * *

"Copy that, J-2. Get there asap - the rip isn't stabilizing."

"Sir, APEX reports that the rip is approaching full breach density."

"Anything on the payload so far?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Ok ... J-2, this is control, we have a confirmed full breach, no intel on payload."

* * *

"Copy that."

Amy shot a brief look at Jim, smiling a little as she put the SUV into gear. One sharp turn later, and they were in the grid area.

"Rip tracker online. And … crap, it's a big one."

Amy looked over at Jim's monitor. A large blue cloud over a stretch of road, in the next block over. She put her foot down, sending the SUV into a controlled spin.

"Jesus, Amy, watch what you're doing!"

* * *

"We've got J-2 on screen, they're approaching point zero."

"I hope it's docile. Control to J-2, you are authorized for full suppression measures. Bring it home."

* * *

The SUV slid, neatly, into the road. Ahead, there was nothing visible, but the street lights were dimming slightly under the strain of the forming rip. Amy rolled the SUV towards the kerb, put it in park, and jumped out. The night air was cold - and silent.

She grabbed her digivice, aiming it at the rip as tiny threads of lighting began pouring out of the center, ionizing the air around it.

"Estimated mass ... woah, ok, it's a big one."

James stopped next to her, checking the readings from his digivice - they were the same. He looked at her, and nodded.

"Charge!"

Light poured out of their digivices, enveloping their bodies. In unison, they held their digivices forward.

"Level one Formshift ... Execute!"

They disappeared into the light, disintegrating in the sheer power of the Formshift, as the digivices themselves remained frozen in mid-air. The clouds grew, taking on new shapes. Within moments, it cleared, revealing two towering, reptilian creatures.

Amy grabbed her digivice and attached it to her forearm, moving to the left. Jim moved to the right, closer to the rip, which was now beginning to surge with energy. In only a few moments, it would reach full breach, and a digimon would come through. This part always made Jim a little nervous.

The rip exploded, sending a shockwave out into the night. The bright light cleared just as quickly, and something was taking shape in the heart of the rip.

"Identification ... Oh, great, type two Guilmon."

"Three's the charm!" Jim yelled back.

The rip collapsed, and the street lights flickered back on. In its place, a crouching, dark blue mass. Jim glanced at Amy before taking a small step towards it. Usually, they were too frightened to realise what was happening to them, and subduing them was a simple matter.

Suddenly, it poked its head out, looking quizzically at Jim. Jim wondered if his digimon form would do anything to calm the creature. But then he saw his talons, slowly extending.

"Oh, great," he whispered. A split second later, the Guilmon was charging towards him, screaming, claws extended. Jim managed to deflect his claws, but the full body contact sent him sprawling. He slammed into the wall of one of the houses, cracking it and shattering a window.

The Guilmon, still moving forward, crashed into a tree. The branches took out a second story window, and somewhere, a dog had started barking.

"Just great," Jim said to himself, lurching forward. The Guilmon shook itself free from the branches, spun, and charged on Jim again. This time, Jim managed to lock arms with the creature, and tried wrestling it to the ground. He nearly succeeded when a sweeping kick came out of nowhere, flinging him towards the front door.

The impact tore the door clear off its hinges, and sent the fragments flying into the hallway beyond. The Guilmon charged again, and Jim threw up his legs. He caught the digimon on the chest, sending it sprawling back towards the road. As he pulled himself up, he heard a noise behind him, and spun.

A shadow, human, moving across the wall. The occupants were awake. Jim snarled, and spun, facing the Guilmon. This was now officially the messiest cleanup he had ever conducted. Jim charged the Guilmon, knocking it into the street.

Before the Guilmon even touched ground, Amy hit it with a power uppercut, sending it flying. Then she aimed her left arm at the ground in front of her.

"Aperture!"

A beam fired out from the digivice, striking the ground and spreading out, creating a glowing circle. As the Guilmon fell towards it, the circle suddenly cleared, and she could see the floor of a holding cell though the aperture, as if looking through a hole in the ceiling.

The Guilmon fell through, slamming into the floor of the holding cell, and the cell flooded with blue light as the containment field activated. Amy pressed something on her digivice, and the aperture closed.

"Well, that was fun," she said, as her body evaporated into light, condensing into her human form. She looked up the road - lights were turning on, and a few dogs were going at it loudly. She was surprised that a house alarm hadn't gone off already.

"Come on, we'd better get going," she said, jogging towards the SUV. Jim shifted back into human form and followed her, occasionally glancing back at the house they had just wrecked. Was he seen? He couldn't be sure.

They clambered into the vehicle, and Amy started the engine. By the time people were stepping out of their front doors, the SUV had already turned the corner and disappeared into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

DIGIMON APEX

Wogan May - Digimon and related concepts © Toei Animations

Chapter 2: Spencer

* * *

"_J-2, I won't lie, that was a mess._"

Jim sighed, slumping in his seat. They were still in the SUV, heading back towards base. Amy looked at Jim, and then reached for the radio.

"Wasn't much we could do, sir - the thing was panicked."

"_Well, that doesn't change the situation, I'm afraid. Hang on, it looks like the owners have called the police._"

Jim stared at the dashboard for a moment, before looking up at Amy, frowning.

"There may be something else, sir. I can't be sure, but we may have been observed."

"_I wouldn't be entirely surprised, James, given that you tore up the porch of a perfectly innocent house. You'll have to intercept._"

"Copy that, sir," Amy said, replacing the radio and sighing. "As if this night couldn't get any worse."

"Since when were you so averse towards cleaning up your messes?"

Amy glared at him. "Your mess, Jim."

Jim shrugged, reaching for his digivice. "You could've helped, that's all I'm saying."

Jim scrolled through a series of menu options, and finally reached the one he was looking for. All APEX agents wore exactly the same uniform - a standard-issue, four-piece suit that came complete with sensors, reactive armor, and a basic level of adaptive camouflage.

One keypress later, Jim's entire outfit changed appearance, matching the clothes worn by the local detective bureau. Then he flipped through a storage container in the passenger door, going past a few fake IDs before he came across a badge.

"Detective Ryan Weathermoore," he read. "Just great. Who the hell thinks up these names anyway?"

Amy shrugged. "I guess, somewhere in the world, there's a Weathermoore family."

"With a child stupid enough to move to Japan, too?" Jim returned his attention to the controls, calling up a vehicle camouflage routine - a few moments later, their vehicle changed color and bore the insignia of the local detective bureau.

"Ok, we're good to go. Let's meet the neighbours."

* * *

Everyone was out of their houses, flooding the street, concentrated around the wrecked house of a Ms. Tanji. Ms. Tanji herself was in the street, talking to a few of her friends, while the neighbours gaped, children ran and played, and the police tried to cordon the area off and get a few answers out of the people.

A black SUV pulled up, and two black-suited agents climbed out. They looked around at the commotion, before heading straight towards the police officer in charge.

"Officer Baines, who the hell are you?"

"Agents Weathermoore and Kaplan," Jim said, as they flashed their identity badges. The officer looked them over, before nodding and gesturing to the house.

"Hell of a thing, here."

"How so?"

"Looks like something crashed into the house, but there's no indication of what could have done it."

Jim averted his eyes a little, and looked at the crowd instead. Only a few people seemed horrified at the damage - the rest were positively enjoying the sudden break from routine. Normally, houses didn't tear themselves apart at night.

"Any occupants?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, a Ms Mary Tanji, and her son Spencer."

"Mary Tanji? That's an odd name."

"Yup. Apparently she's American, moved here, married a Japanese official."

"Then why the 'Ms'?"

Officer Baines shrugged. "She's American. Who knows?"

"Right, thank you, officer."

The officer nodded and moved off towards the forensics team, who were taking photos of the damage and collecting samples of rock and glass. Amy leaned over and whispered at Jim.

"Did you shower your digimon form this morning?"

"Why the hell would you ask that?"

"If they find a single scrap of you, we're in trouble."

Jim looked at her, then at the forensic technicians, and shrugged. "They'll find reptilian DNA, if anything. Maybe they'll even run a scare story about a runaway crocodile."

Amy sighed. "One day, Jim, you'll take this job seriously. Right, I'm on the missus."

"I guess that means I'm on Spencer," he said to himself, scanning the crowd. He was expecting to see the boy hanging around his mother, but he wasn't there. Further down the road, he spied a teenager, possibly 18 years old, wearing pyjamas, and hanging back from the crowd.

He pulled out his digivice, turned on the camera, and aimed it at him. It recognised the face, and did a brief database search, coming back with "Miles, Spencer - son of Tanji, Mary".

"Stranger and stranger," he said to himself, pocketing his digivice and moving towards Spencer. As he approached, Spencer looked him over, frowned, and returned his attention to the crowd.

"Detective Ryan, and you are?"

He paused a while before answering. "Spencer."

"Spencer, right - that Spencer?" he asked, gesturing at the wrecked house. Spencer nodded.

"Sorry for your loss. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Spencer nodded, then looked at the ground. Jim hoped he wasn't dealing with an emo depressive - his night had already gone badly enough.

"Well, firstly, why are you all the way out here?"

"I'm looking for the hole."

"The ... hole?"

Spencer looked up at Jim, nodding. "That Guilmon, it fell through a hole in the road."

Jim froze. Thousands of tiny spiders crawled up his back, and all the blood drained from his face. He was just able to save himself from choking.

"H.. hole? In the road?" He stammered.

Spencer nodded as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "There was a hole here - I think it's called an 'aperture'. The Guilmon fell through it and disappeared."

"Wh.. what Guilmon?"

"Oh, right, it's a sort of lizard monster, a few feet taller than you are. Actually, there were three of them - it was the blue one that fell through the road."

"The blue one?"

"Yeah. There was an orange one, and I think a purple one too. The blue and orange fought - that's how the house got damaged."

Jim cleared his throat. "Ok, Spencer, tell me everything - right from the beginning."

"Am I in trouble?"

Jim thought about it. More than likely, Spencer wasn't. If he knew nothing that could compromise IHDRC security, his memory would simply be wiped and he'd be returned home. All of this would become nothing more than a bad dream to him.

"Not at all - go on."

Spencer nodded. "Well, I was asleep..."


	3. Chapter 3

DIGIMON APEX

Wogan May - Digimon and related concepts © Toei Animations

Chapter 3: Monsters

* * *

It was a quiet, cool night, with a faint breeze coming in through the open windows - and yet Spencer couldn't sleep. He tossed his blanket off for the fourth time that night, and sighed.

It was the headache. A mild, buzzing feeling in his brain - that's what was keeping him awake. He had no idea what it was, and the aspirin wasn't helping. He had been holding out on the sedatives, but they were beginning to look inviting.

From outside, there was the sudden screech of tyres on asphalt. Someone was in a hurry - not uncommon for this part of town. As he got out of bed, there was a low humming noise. He looked at his alarm clock - it read 03:22, and it was flickering. He stared at it, confused, when he suddenly heard a faint voice floating in from outside.

"_Great, a type two Guilmon!_"

Suddenly, everything went dark, and that's when he saw the light, pouring in through his windows from somewhere in the street. He ran to his window, tore the curtains open, and looked out.

There were two towering monsters standing in the road, facing a weird, floating ball of light. Spencer couldn't believe his eyes. The light obscured the further one - which looked purplish - but he could clearly see the one closer to the light - it was orange, with a white belly.

The ball of light vanished suddenly, leaving behind a third, blue monster. It looked up, and the next moment, charged at the orange one, slamming it into the downstairs wall.

The impact shook the house. Spencer was knocked off his feet, books tumbled from his shelf, and his alarm clock smashed into the floor. He pulled himself up and ran for the door. His room was on the second floor, and while he was making his way downstairs, there was a massive crash. He saw the top half of the door fly past, smashing into the telephone table.

Simultaneously, another door opened - his mother was awake, looking as if she'd seen a ghost. She saw Spencer, and yelled at him to call the police.

"Shit," he said, spinning and running back into his room, looking for his cellphone. He happened to look through the window, where the purple Guilmon was standing, left arm pointed at a hole in the ground. The blue Guilmon fell through it, and a moment later, the hole closed.

The purple one looked up, and Spencer was able to duck just in time. He found his cellphone lying on the floor and hit the speed-dial for the police. By the time the call connected, he could hear the SUV speeding away, screeching around the corner and vanishing.

"Emergency services," the operator said. Spencer looked at the phone in his hand for a while before lifting it back to his ear.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like to report a ... uh ... attack?"

"What is your address please?"

* * *

"And then the police showed up, and that's about it, I guess."

Good, Jim thought to himself. No formshifting, no names, this was going to be a walk in the park.

"And so that's everything," Jim said, writing on a notepad he had pulled out. It was just for show - he didn't need to take notes if the information wasn't going to survive past tonight.

"Tell me, Spencer, I'm curious - you say you saw three large monsters in the street, and one of them tore up your house, then fell through a hole in the road. _None_ of that strikes you as odd?"

Spencer shrugged. "Should it? Everyone keeps talking about aliens and parallel worlds and all that stuff, so if it happens, should it freak people out?"

"Normally, Spencer, it does. More than you might think."

Amy walked up to Jim, wiping her hands. "Well, nothing useful out of Mary - she sounds a little drunk at this point, too. Oh, hi, you must be Spencer."

Spencer nodded, then looked away. Amy gestured at him, raising her eyebrows at Jim. Jim held up his notepad, which read "Level 3 Erasure". Amy nodded, then turned and walked away. Jim turned back to Spencer.

"Well, good meeting you and all that. You try and get some sleep."

"What about those monsters? Won't they still be around somewhere?"

"Oh, maybe they will," Jim said, nodding. "But I'm sure there are people working on that right now. Good night!" With that, he turned and left, pulling out his digivice as he walked.

"Hi, Command? Subject Spencer Miles, confirmed for Level three Erasure."

"_Copy that, James. Don't worry about it, though - J-3 just came on shift, they'll handle the rest of the cleanup_."

"Oh, great, I could use some sleep."

"_See you back at the base._"


	4. Chapter 4

DIGIMON APEX

Wogan May - Digimon and related concepts © Toei Animations

Chapter 4: Counter-Erasure

* * *

Sunrise, sunset, winter, summer - these concepts didn't apply inside the APEX base. After his first few months, Jim had gotten used to the never-changing temperature, lighting or noise levels. In a way, he was beginning to enjoy it - every "night", every "morning" was mostly the same.

Except for this particular night. After his third trip to the bathroom - during which he did nothing other than stare into the mirror and wonder why he got out of bed - he gave up on the idea of sleep entirely. A few minutes later, he was fully dressed, and getting coffee in the APEX control centre.

The door opened, and Commander Alex stepped through. He was talking to someone, and Jim thought it was a rather animated discussion. He paid it no mind, instead looking at the instability map. He noticed it was nearly 8AM, and it was a relatively quiet morning in the city.

"That changes nothing, sir. You know very well that's outside our ... yes, Chris, I'll try not to call you 'sir' from now on. But that doesn't ... it's not the ..."

Alex sighed, pulled the dongle out of his ear, and tossed it on his desk before falling into his chair.

"Morning, sir," Jim said. Alex looked up in surprise.

"Didn't see you there. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Couldn't," Jim said, walking over to one of the consoles.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nah, probably not. Hey, how'd the cleanup go?"

"Pretty well, actually. Mark got the idea of ramming a car into the house, and the police will trace it back to one of our fake identities. We will, of course, be more than happy to cover the cost of repairs to the house."

"Without getting arrested for really bad driving?"

"Mysterious circumstances, etcetera. Oh, and we did a level 3 on the whole neighbourhood, so that's taken care of, too."

"I guess so."

"Okay, something is definitely bothering you."

Jim looked at Alex, then back at his coffee, and shrugged. "Something about that kid - Spencer. I dunno, there was just something ..."

"Weird? I got your report, and believe it or not, there are people out there like that. People that can watch something like a digimon faceoff at 2 in the morning, and not be overly fazed by it."

"I know that, but, well, I dunno. Something about it just didn't feel right."

Alex shrugged and returned to the mound of paperwork on his desk. "Well, it's behind you now. You're not on duty until 6 this evening - try and get some rest."

"Yes, sir. Where's Amy?"

"Sleeping, I'd expect."

"Right. Obviously. Well, see you later."

* * *

Jim couldn't bear the thought of spending another minute in bed, so instead he changed into casual clothes, dug his wallet out of his bag, and checked out of the base. Less than ten minutes walking distance from the world's best kept secret, was the single busiest waterfront in the country.

The sun had risen over the bay, and people were out in force. Between the bright light, excited talking and laughing, and the smells of a hundred restaurants and food carts, Jim began to wake up. This, he told himself, was the reason he moved here - the happy, easy life.

Around the first corner, seated at an outside table, working on a laptop, was Amy. As he drew near, she turned, and seemed surprised at his arrival.

"Jim? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you same thing. Mind if I join you?"

"Sure. Couldn't sleep, huh?"

"Nope. You?"

"The same. Hey, did you hear about J-1's cleanup?"

"Car accident, yeah," he said, seating himself. "Absolutely crazy, but I guess that's how they work."

"Yeah, check this," she said, spinning the laptop around. It was open on a local news site - their earliest story of the day was at 5AM, where a car crashed into a house in the suburbs. The police were currently trying to track down the owner.

Jim couldn't help but smile. "No mention of large reptiles or holes in the road?"

"None whatsoever. What's so funny about that?"

"Nothing. But don't you find it even slightly crazy that after we tore up a house while wrestling down an alien creature from another dimension, there isn't even a mention of it in the news?"

Amy nodded. "I see what you mean, but honestly, you get used to it after a while. Enjoy it while it lasts, Jim."

"I intend to. Right after I get the biggest coffee on the menu," he said, standing. "Can I get you anything?"

"Strawberry milkshake, thanks."

"Isn't it a little early for that?"

"It's never too early for strawberry."

"Right. Back in a sec."

The coffee shop was mostly deserted, and Jim was served immediately. He ordered, paid, then wandered up and down the shop, looking at the photos and posters on one of the walls. They detailed the history of the bay, complete with old photos. He was halfway through the 1950's when his order was called.

As he walked back to the counter, he thought he saw a familiar face through the door. Then the newcomer stepped in, and he realised, in a moment of shock, that it was Spencer.

Level 3, he told himself. There was no chance in hell that...

"Oh, hi, detective."

Once again, Jim froze, and it took him three very long seconds before he was able to reply.

"D..detective? Me?"

"Yeah, you were in my street last night. Isn't it too early for milkshake?" he asked, gesturing at the tray in his hands.

"Um, it's not ... no, wait, how do you know me again?"

"From last night. There was some sort of accident - I can't really remember. But I remember you interviewed me, and I keep thinking of the word 'digimon'. Weird."

"Right... Well, you have me mistaken for someone else, kid. Have a nice day."

"Yeah, you too."

Jim ran out of the shop as fast as the tall milkshake glass would let him, found Amy, and slammed the tray down. Amy jumped in surprise.

"We've gotta get out of here," Jim whispered, looking behind him.

"What do you mean?"

"That kid from last night, Spencer? He's here."

"So?"

"So he remembers who I was, and that I interviewed him last night."

"Oh, come on Jim, that's ridiculous. You know what a Level 3 erasure does, right?"

"I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that... Oh, crap, here he comes."

Spencer exited the coffee shop with a bottle of water, saw and waved at the two of them, then turned and walked in the opposite direction. Jim gave Amy a pointed look.

"Ok, I'll admit, that was weird."

"He remembers, damnit."

"Look, even if he does, he still thinks it was a car accident. He'll think that that's what the interview was about."

"You know what else he remembers? Digimon."

"What, the three of us?"

"No, just the name, but isn't that enough?"

"Alright, we're going back to base. If he really remembers, we'll bring him in and run him through another Level 3."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm telling you, there's something weird about this kid. He could feel the rip before it happened, he could hear us talking all the way from his room, and now he's remembering stuff through a memory wipe."

Amy nodded. "I'll give you that this is a first for me, but it's probably been handled before. Let's get out of here."


End file.
